A  TRIP  ACROSS  THE 
PLAINS  IN  1854 

BY  JAMES  H.  RICHEY 


A  Trip  Across  the  Plains  in  1854 


By  James  H.  Richey 


RICHEY,  CALIFORNIA,  March   15,  1908. 

Just  fifty-four  years  ago  to-day,  in  1854,  I  left  my  home 
in  Illinois  for  the  trip  across  the  plains.  After  bidding  all  good- 
bye, brother  Thomas  took  us,  Alex  and  I,  to  Mr.  Miller's,  where 
Mr.  Strahn  had  his  outfit,  but  they  had  started.  We  overtook 
them  at  DeHague's.  We  then  transferred  our  luggage  to  the 
ox  team. 

Our  company  consisted  of  Miller  Strahn,  Tom  Eberley,  Bill 
Henry,  John  Flemmirgs,  Alex  Richey  and  James  Richey  from 
Illinois  and  S.  Steele,  Mose  Knox?  Abe  Earnest  and  Wm.  Morse 
from  Iowa. 

Arriving  at  the  Mississippi  river    we    experienced   our   first 


ferrying  of  cattle.  After  considerable  trouble  we  got  a  load  on 
the  ferry  boat,  "The  Flint  Hills."  When  it  cast  off  for  the  other 
side  the  cattle  were  greatly  excited  and  rushed  from  one  side 
to  the  other,  tipping  the  boat,  and  crowded  four  or  five  head  into 
the  river.  On  the  upper  side  one  went  under  the  boat,  coming 
up,  followed  the  boat  across  making  nearly  as  good  time  as  we 
did.  We  then  named  her  Mississippi.  When  other  rivers  were 
to  ford  she  readily  led  tha  herd  across. 

We  stayed  four  miles  west  of  Burlington  the  first  night. 
The  fifth  day  we  arrived  at  Bloomfield,  the  home  of  Mr.  Steele, 
had  dinner,  then  took  cattle  to  farm  seven  miles  from  town, 
stayed  two  weeks,  here  finishing  our  outfit  for  the  trip.  On 
Monday  morning  broke  our  first  camp  grounds  and  left  for  the 
long  trip  to  the  "Golden  State."  Went  south,  passed  a  short 
distance  into  Missouri,  then  west  to  the  Missouri  river,  up  this 
river  to  St.  Mary's,  twelve  miles  below  Omaha,  where  we  camp- 
ed for  a  few  days  waiting  to  be  ferried  across  the  river.  On 
the  28th  of  April  Hopper's  train  joined  us  here,  where  we  had 
our  first  sight  of  Indians,  two  hundred  or  more  of  the  Omaha 
tribe,  all  great  beggars.  Here  commenced  guard  duty  for  the 
next  three  months.  I  was  on  duty  the  after  part  of  the  night. 
It  was  a  stormy  night  and  the  cattle  very  uneasy.  V/e  were 
each  on  guard  one-half  night  every  fifth  night.  On  April  29 
left  the  settlements  and  started  out  on  the  plains  and  passed 
over  some  fine  looking  country.  Crossing  the  Elk  Horn  river, 
we  ferried  the  wagons  and  let  the  cattle  swim,  then  the  Loupe 
Fork  of  the  Platte  river  which  we  ferried;  came  to  the  Platte 
river  at  Grand  Island,  one  hundred  miles  from  Missouri.  Here 
we  saw  the  first  Pawnee  Indians,  much  finer  looking  than  the 


Omahas  and  were  very  friendly.  We  now  traveled  up  Platte 
river,  having-  fine  feed  and  good  roads.  Saw  but  few  buffaloes, 
as  but  few  had  come  north  as  yet.  Here  we  had  our  first 
stampede.  We  had  been  in  camp  and  had  our  supper.  A  heavy 
thunderstorm  stampeded  the  cattle,  they  going  with  the  storm, 
but  the  men  stayed  with  them,  getting  them  back  to  camp 
about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning;  had  all  of  our  cattle  and  the 
most  of  another  train's. 

Following  the  Platte  there  was  nothing  of  note  for  some 
time,  regular  daily  duty.  We  separated  company  with  Hopper, 
traveling  by  ourselves,  three  wagons  and  ten  men.  One  day  we 
came  to  the  camp  of  a  train  that  had  part  of  their  horses  stolen 
and  had  to  throw  some  of  their  wagons  away.  We  took  two  of 
their  men,  also  a  wagon,  cutting  ours  up  and  carrying  it  for 
wood,  as  there  was  none  on  our  route.  Following  the  Platte 
we  had  our  first  view  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  Laramie  Peak, 
said  to  be  two  hundred  miles  away.  We  were  in  sight  of  it  for 
four  weeks.  The  next  thing  of  interest  was  Chimney  Rock,  on 
south  side  of  Platte,  about  twenty  miles  away,  looked  some  like 
a  chimney  in  the  distance,  height  some  150  feet.  Next  was 
Court  House  Rock  which  resembled  a  large  building.  We  ar- 
rived at  Fort  Laramie  on  May  25,  being  the  first  building  after 
leaving  Omaha.  Here  was  our  first  chance  for  mailing  letters. 
Strahn  crossed  the  river  at  the  Fort. 

After  leaving  Laramie  we  had  our  first  mountain  travel 
through  the  Black  Hills.  The  view  was  fine  but  very  rough 
roads.  On  guard  one  night  I  saw  what  I  thought  was  an  Indian 
coming  towards  the  cattle.  After  watching  it  a  short  time  I 
made  up  my  mind  to  find  out,  so  1  crawled  on  my  hands  and 


knees  some  one  hundred  yards  and  found  my  Indian  was  a  little 
mule  that  had  strayed  from  a  camp  some  distance  from  us.  We 
traveled  up  Platte  river  to  the  north  crossing  where  the  road 
from  the  south  crosses  to  the  north  and  joined  the  road  on 
which  we  were  traveling  from  Ft.  Laramie,  one  hundred  miles. 
Here  we  left  the  Platte  and  crossed  to  the  Sweet  Water,  still 
on  the  Oregon  trail;  table  land  country,  very  good  roads.  We 
met  the  Cheyenne  tribe  of  Indians  on  their  way  down  to  hunt 
buffalo  and  fight  the  Pawnee.  A  trader  said  there  was  about 
five  thousand  men,  women  and  children.  They  had  their  be- 
longings packed  on  horses  and  dogs,  tent  poles  on  the  sides,  the 
back  ends  dragging  and  baskets  lashed  to  these  with  children  in 
them.  The  morning  before  reaching  Sweet  Water  we  had  a 
stampede  of  our  horses.  While  we  were  yoking  up  they  pulled 
their  picket  pins  and  were  off.  As  they  passed  me  I  grabbed 
one  of  the  ropes;  it  pulled  me  down  but  Strahn  was  near  and 
held  it.  He  threw  a  saddle  on  it  and  followed  them,  catching 
them  at  Sweet  Water,  some  ten  miles  away.  We  arrived  there 
about  noon  feeling  very  good  that  he  had  them.  We  followed 
this  river  to  the  south  pass  of  the  Rockies. 

Places  of  note  on  Sweet  Water:  Independence  Rock,  laying 
in  the  valley,  covering  about  ten  acres  and  one  hundred  feet 
high.  Five  miles  from  Independence  Rock  is  Devil's  Gate, 
where  the  river  passes  through  a  chasm  of  rock  three  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  in  depth.  On  the  south  side  of  the  cliff  overhang- 
ing the  river,  laying  down  I  crawled  out  and  looked  down  at  the 
river.  It  looked  like  a  small  rivulet.  After  passing  this  point, 
the  next  was  the  Ice  Fields,  when  digging  down  from  one  to 
two  feet  in  the  ground  we  found  solid  ice,  said  to  be  four  miles 


wide.  Following  the  river  up  to  the  last  crossing-,  ten  miles 
from  the  summit,  which  was  our  last  camp  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Rockies.  In  the  morning  we  had  a  heavy  sleet  and  snow 
storm,  very  cold.  Cleared  up  by  seven  o'clock  and  had  a  fine 
day  crossing  the  summit. 

About  noon  June  10th,  stopped  for  dinner  at  Pacific 
Springs.  The  water  flows  to  the  Pacific  ocean  from  here 
through  the  Colorado  river.  From  here  the  road  leads  to  the 
Little  Sandy,  a  branch  of  Green  River.  Here  the  Salt  Lake 
road  and  the  Oregon  road,  form  the  Salt  Lake  road.  Bearing 
south,  we  kept  the  Oregon  southwest;  from  Little  Sandy  we 
crossed  to  Big  Sandy  some  tv/enty  miles  where  we  camped  till 
the  next  day  noon.  In  the  forenoon  we  were  busy  shoeing  cattle 
and  preparing  for  crossing  the  Green  River  Desert,  fifty-four 
miles,  with  no  water.  This  is  a  sage  brush  country,  with  con- 
siderable bunch  grass.  We  started  at  noon  and  traveled  till 
near  night,  camped  and  had  supper.  About  dark  a  heavy  rain- 
storm came  up  so  we  had  plenty  of  water  for  cattle  as  well  as 
feed.  It  cleared  up  about  midnight  and  we  hitched  up  and  put 
out  for  Green  river,  which  we  reached  about  nine  o'clock  the 
next  morning.  This  is  a  fine  looking  stream,  some  two  hundred 
yards  wide,  clear  and  deep,  with  a  rapid  current. 

They  were  well  prepared  to  handle  the  travel  having  four- 
teen ferry  boats.  Charged  $5  per  wagon  without  any  team. 
Our  ferry  bill  was  $30  which  we  paid  in  bacon  at  fifty  cents 
per  pound.  We  had  a  hard  time  getting  our  cattle  to  take  the 
river.  They  would  start,  then  when  they  struck  the  current 
they  would  down  stream  and  back.  We  finally  got  them  across 
about  the  middle  of  the  afternoon.  We  went  down  the  river 


some  fourteen  miles  and  camped  here  and  had  some  trouble 
with  a  horse  train.  Strahn  had  put  our  horses  on  an  island 
early  that  morning"  and  during"  the  day  a  horse  train  had  put 
their  horses  on  the  same  island  where  they  forbid  us  putting 
our  cattle  on.  Strahn  said  there  was  plenty  of  feed  for  both 
but  they  said  no,  the  first  animal  that  we  drive  across  they 
would  shoot.  Stepping  to  a  wagon  he  took  a  shot  gun  down 
also  Mr.  Hopper  and  several  more  of  our  men  standing  on  the 
bank  of  the  slough.  Strahn  told  them  his  cattle  were  coming 
across  and  the  first  man  that  fired  on  tham  he  would  kill.  He 
then  ordered  the  cattle  driven  in  which  we  did.  but  they  backed 
down  and  got  out  of  our  way.  We  put  on  double  guard  but  had 
no  more  trouble.  The  next  morning  he  gave  the  captain  of  the 
train  some  good  advice.  In  the  morning  we  left  Green  River 
traveling  through  a  mountain  country  with  plenty  of  water  and 
good  feed.  At  Forest  Grove  about  midnight  the  cattle  stamped- 
ed. They  were  lying  quiet  when  they  jumped  to  their  feet  and 
were  off  like  a  shot.  We  were  up  and  after  them  in  a  hurry. 
They  ran  down  the  mountainside  into  a  deep  canyon,  but  when 
they  tried  to  climb  the  other  side,  it  being  very  steep,  we  soon 
got  ahead  of  them  and  drove  them  back  to  camp  where  they 
soon  quieted  down  for  the  night.  The  only  accident  to  a  wagon 
was  mine  which  I  upset  coming  down  a  mountain  to  Bear  River, 
breaking  the  top  off.  We  followed  down  Bear  river  to  Soda 
Springs,  where  there  was  a  trading  post,  about  sixty  miles  north 
of  Salt  Lake.  A  spring  of  very  pleasant  tasting  water  lies  on 
the  bank  of  the  river  Steam  boat  spring  near  a  gushing  spring 
through  a  hole  about  four  inches  in  diameter,  recedes  out  cf 
sight  then  gushes  several  feet  into  the  air,  making  a  sound  very 


much  like  a  steam  boat. 

Our  next  point  is  the  Humbolt.  After  leaving-  Soda  Springs 
some  six  miles,  we  have  the  Oregon  trail  which  goes  north.  We 
took  the  sublet  cut-off  which  goes  southwest  into  the  Goose 
Creek  mountains.  When  leaving  the  Oregon  trail  we  passed 
over  a  volcanic  country  covered  with  rock  resembling  broken 
black  bottles  and  fissures  where  we  dropped  rocks  to  an  un- 
known depth.  Goose  Greek  mountains  are  quite  rough,  but 
plenty  of  feed  and  water.  Northwest  Salt  Lake  then  came  to 
Raft  river,  a  branch  of  Snake  river,  which  we  followed  up  for 
some  distance.  The  morning  we  left  the  river  we  passed  a  train 
of  wagons  encamped.  They  had  had  their  horses  stolen  that 
morning-.  We  followed  up  a  small  stream  into  Thousand  Spring 
Valley.  Here  we  found  both  hot  and  cold  water.  At  the  head 
of  the  valley  we  passed  the  divide  between  the  Raft  river  and 
the  Humbolt  river,  which  we  reached  on  July  3rd,  crossed  to 
the  south  side  and  traveled  along-  the  foot  of  the  mountains, 
where  we  found  fine  feed  and  g-ood  streams  of  water.  We 
traveled  very  slowly  here  to  let  the  cattle  recruit.  Found  c  few 
Mormon  settlers  here.  They  said  they  were  going  back  to  Salt 
Lake.  Crossed  the  south  fork  of  the  river  then  had  a  mountain 
range  to  cross,  coming  to  the  main  Humbolt  river,  Gravelly  Ford, 
about  half  way  down  the  river. 

From  here  the  country  to  the  Sink  is  sage  brush,  with  mead- 
ow along  the  river.  One  day  we  suffered  for  water,  leaving  the 
river  at  sunrise  we  went  through  sage  brush  and  sand  country 
until  sundown,  with  no  water  to  be  had,  both  cattle  and  men 
were  wild  for  water.  Arriving  at  the  river,  the  cattle  rushed  in 
and  the  boys  grabbing  tin  cups,  wadsd  out  past  the  cattle  to 


clear  water  about  waist  deep.  I  think  water  never  tasted  bet- 
ter There  was  a  trading1  post  here — they  said  we  traveled 
forty  miles  that  day.  At  the  Sink  we  passed  around  the  lake  to 
the  west  side  where  we  camped  till  noon  the  next  day,  when 
we  took  up  our  line  of  march  to  Truckee  Desert.  It  is  forty 
miles  across.  About  sundown  we  stopped  for  supper,  then  re- 
sumed our  travel,  very  good  roads  until  we  came  to  heavy  sand, 
about  ten  miles  across.  Arrived  at  Truckee  river  about  ten 
o'clock  and  stayed  until  morning.  Traveled  up  the  river  to  Big 
Meadows,  turned  to  the  right,  took  Beckwith  road,  crossing  the 
summit  into  the  valley  July  29.  Just  three  months  from  Mis- 
souri river.  Here  they  went  into  camp  to  stay  three  or  four 
weeks. 

The  next  morning  five  of    us  shouldered  our    blankets  and 
started  for  Dowiesville  where  we  arrived  on  the  third  day. 


